And the Winner of the 2016 Prize Goes to . . .

The prize will be announced today. I had hoped to have read all six, but a tragic iPad accident has left me two books short.

My heart hopes The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie will win, but I expect it will go to either The Green Road by Anne Enright.

Who do you you think will win, and who do you hope will win?

>1 RidgewayGirl: I think it will be A Little Life based on its reputation. I have not read it, but i have read her previous novel, which certainly made an impact on me.

Kay, I'm wondering if Ruby was one of the four you read and what you thought of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't tough enough for its grim subject matter.

>1 RidgewayGirl: I haven't managed to read them in time this year, although I am thoroughly enjoying A Little Life at the moment which would definitely be a deserving choice.

Shannon, no Ruby and The Glorious Heresies were the two that I missed. If my son (who is twelve and not known for reliability in things that don't directly affect him) remembers to pick it up, I can check on my iPad whether I missed my hold on Ruby or not tonight.

I wonder about A Little Life. It's such a polarizing book.

And what is with touchstones these days? Ruby shows up as Wuthering Heights and A Little Life as Twilight.

>4 RidgewayGirl: And what is with touchstones these days? Ruby shows up as Wuthering Heights and A Little Life as Twilight. For some reason, I find that hilarious.

>4 RidgewayGirl: And what is with touchstones these days? Ruby shows up as Wuthering Heights and A Little Life as Twilight.

I know! There are some real clangers at the moment.

I'm half way through A Little Life so I'm reserving full judgement until the end but I'm finding it a really engaging read. I like the characterisation.

I love that picture with the tea cup - I noticed it on Twitter this morning. I've only read two of the short list - Ruby and The Green Road. I liked both quite a bit.

I agree about A Little Life being polarizing. It does not appeal to me at all, and having read criticism about it, I'm not sure I could. It reminds me of the buzz around The Goldfinch and I was disappointed in The Goldfinch overall.

>2 sturlington: I did finish Ruby, and it was well written but it was a tough book for me, too. Too much violence, especially against children, and I really did not enjoy it at all.

The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney wins!

Charlotte (charl08) from the 75 Books group wrote a nice review of The Glorious Heresies, and she gave it 5 stars. It won't be available in the US until early August, but I'm in Europe this month, and will plan to purchase it while I'm here.

I'll have to grab a copy now then, too.

>10 kidzdoc: I have a vague memory of the US publication date being moved up as the result of a prize win. I don't remember which book, and whether it was the Booker or Baileys/Women's Prize, but I'm hopeful this will happen with The Glorious Heresies.

>12 lauralkeet: Right, Laura. That has happened at least once and I suspect more than that, when a book originally published in the UK was chosen as a finalist for or the winner of a major award like the Booker Prize or the Orange Prize. As you said, hopefully that will happen with The Glorious Heresies as well.

I see that the Kindle edition will be available in August at $13.99 - too rich for my blood. You can also get it used in pb at AMC from the UK - also too rich for my blood.

The Glorious Heresies, which I've never heard of (wasn't paying attention to the prize this year. Oops) has been available from Amazon Canada since early May, so if it's still not available in the US it's a painless order.

The cover is so extremely ugly, and the description is . . . unusual. I may have to order this one and see what it's all about.

ETA: >14 LizzieD: The Amazon.ca is $16.99 CAN, which in US currency is what? Not much. (But I'll check. $13.10)

ETA: Here's the cover Amazon has. It isn't on LT as of this moment:

I've begun The Glorious Heresies and if it continues as well as it began, it will be one of my year's best. I've set it aside for the moment as things are currently hectic and it deserves to be read in a less distracted manner.